Integration of modern software tools into programming and development approaches used in industrial control applications

Abstract

This study has been conducted by considering certain limitations observed in motion control systems used in state-of-the-art industrial control applications, as well as the potential improvements that can be achieved through the evolution of these systems. The primary objective of this study is to demonstrate how the extensive capabilities offered by high-level programming languages, widely adopted in modern software development, can be effectively utilized within industrial control applications, which have traditionally benefited from such technologies only to a limited extent. Today, modern user interfaces are predominantly realized through web-based platforms and mobile applications. However, the concept of a modern interface should not be restricted solely to visual design and user interaction. The backend infrastructures supporting these interfaces are equally critical. In this context, technologies such as WebSocket-based communication, HTTP services, modern web application frameworks, and message queue–based communication mechanisms represent powerful and mature components of contemporary software systems. Despite these advancements, industrial control applications largely continue to rely on desktop-based software solutions and file-based data exchange methods. While these approaches have proven reliable over time, modern control applications can adopt more secure, flexible, and scalable architectures by restricting direct external access and leveraging network-based communication in a controlled manner. Given that security is a fundamental requirement in industrial control systems, the adoption of modern software tools, whose reliability has been demonstrated globally, can provide significant advantages over traditional methods. The modular software architecture approach, which is widely preferred in modern programming practices, has also been incorporated into this study. Many programming languages in use today share common historical roots and design paradigms. While C++ was developed based on the C programming language, languages such as C\# and Java benefited from the principles introduced by C and C++. Similarly, high-level languages such as JavaScript and Python have been influenced by these programming paradigms. Furthermore, some high-level programming languages provide native language support, allowing low-level and native languages to be utilized within their ecosystems in order to meet performance, determinism, and hardware access requirements. This capability enables programming languages developed by different communities and based on different origins to be used together, provided that appropriate compatibility layers and integration rules are established. By leveraging this approach, the present study aims to provide a guiding perspective on how diverse software components, whether frontend or backend, native or high-level, can be integrated and utilized together within industrial control applications. In contrast to existing state-of-the-art approaches, the main contribution of this study is the design and evaluation of a centralized, extensible, and fully controllable industrial motion control system. The proposed system enables the management of multiple industrial control applications over a unified network infrastructure, supports the active use of modern software tools, facilitates user-friendly interaction, and allows further extensibility and customization of the system architecture.